Course 1003: Reframing the Debate on ‘the Political’ (in the wake of the Financial Crisis)

Swagato Sarkar

(1) Course Description:

In the last two
and a half decades, a large volume of theoretical literature has been produced
which tries to move away from the supposedly economicallyreductionist
explanations and understanding of politics, to demarcate ‘the political’ as a
separate domain, distinct from ‘economy’, etc. The recent global economic
turmoil and the growing number of movements against displacements in India
require us to re-look at such theorization and call for reframing the
relationship between ‘politics’ and ‘economy’, in fact, question whether such a
division is at all possible and whether we need a holistic framework to
understand this relationship.

In this brief
course, we will first engage with the debate on ‘the political’, and then try
to understand the specificity of capitalism as a dynamic, but at the same time
a crisis prone system, and its relationship with ‘politics’, particularly
representative democracy. Instead of an outright normative judgement, we will critically
examine the relationship between capitalism, (representative) politics and
violence, and strive to build an analytical and conceptual framework to
understand this relationship.

(2) What does the course want to achieve? What are the
educational objectives? What is the scope of the course?

The course wants the students
to delve into the question: ‘what is politics?’ in a coherent and holistic
manner, to see the interconnections between various aspects of our existence,
rather than separating out the ‘economy’, ‘politics’, etc. In the process, the
course wants the students to understand what is at stake, be analytically and
conceptually clear and have firm grip over the issues.

(3) Instruction models in classroom (tools
of instruction)

Conventional
classroom lectures and discussion, but students can watch videos of David
Harvey’s lectures (the teacher can provide the videos to them) on reading Capital at home.

One student will summarize the
arguments in one of the selected texts, the class will discuss the issues
identified; the teacher will then intervene, clarify the issues and link the
literature with the wider debate; this will again be followed by classroom
discussion.

On weeks 3-5, the teacher will
first give a lecture, followed by classroom discussion.

(5) Assignments

The students are required to
write one 3000-word essay. They can re-examine their research project proposal
or any other popular topic, and identify and question their assumptions and
understanding of ‘politics’ ‘political’ and ‘economy’, and ask whether it is
possible to move beyond such categorization.

WEEK-1

A. Introduction to the
course structure

B. Thinking and writing
analytically and conceptually

C. Methodological note:
On Ontological enquiry – what is ‘logics’?

D. What is ‘the
Political’ ?

[Electronic copies of all the
bibliographic materials will be provided to the students; many are also
available online, on Google books]